HOUSTON - First year head swimming coach Rich Murphy enjoyed his first victory as the leader of the Houston swimming program on Friday afternoon as Houston outraced North Texas 128-109 at the Campus Recreation & Wellness Center Natatorium.

“It’s awesome and definitely a thrill,” said Murphy on winning his first dual meet. “We had a number of girls step up and meet the moment. Our seniors showed great leadership and the entire team had great enthusiasm all meet - it was a great day.”

The Cougars used six individual event titles and one relay win to pick up their first dual meet victory this season to give them a 1-0 record on the year.

“There were a lot of big swims today. Heather Winn showed great poise and leadership all day and grabbed a couple of wins. Laykin (Lowry), Lizzie (Justice) and Krystan (Morrell) all had great swims - really our whole senior class swam well for us today. It was a great job all around by them and the rest of the squad.”

Winn, the senior from Slidell, La., helped lead the charge by the upperclassmen picking up wins in the 500 free (5:01.97) and 1,000 free (10:20.64).

Senior Krystan Morrell (53.08) out touched Maya Owens (53.17) and Maggie McCord (53.37) as the Cougars went 1-2-3 in the 100 free. McCord edged Morrell in the sprint free later in the day to pick up her second 50 free win of the year (24.18).

Owens added a win in the 200 free (1:54.29) as Houston took home first in all five freestyle events on Friday.

Senior Laykin Lowry took home first in the 200 fly (2:06.08) and earned a runner up finish in the 400 IM (4:34.14) to round out the strong individual performances on the day.

The Cougars held the lead nearly all afternoon and were winning by six points heading into the final event of the evening, the 400 free relay. The Cougars three relay squads secured the victory by finishing first, second and third to give UH the final 128-109 margin of victory.

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Houston hosts SMU on Saturday at noon inside the Campus Recreation & Wellness Center.